


The Talk

by spittingfeathers



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 23:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5184515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spittingfeathers/pseuds/spittingfeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“She’s too good for you.”</p><p>He can’t quite stop the “I know” from coming out of his mouth and Ned looks almost surprised at his automatic response.</p><p>“You…know?”</p><p>“I do.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Talk

“Stannis. A word.”

Stannis didn’t feel the usual cold terror most described upon first meeting and being given ‘the talk’ by the father of the woman you were seeing. Instead it was more of a weary feeling that tried to push down his shoulders as he followed Eddard Stark into the kitchen. The Stark clan enjoyed the sunshine outside though it seemed a world away from the undoubtedly painful ‘talk’ he was about to receive.

“Sansa says you have been seeing each other for four months.” Ned begins and Stannis nods, prepared for whatever dressing down and threats he will receive.

“If I ever even get a hint that you’ve hurt her in any way I will come down on you like a tonne of bricks.” Stannis nodded silent, but still straight backed and serious as usual even as he heard the words he knew were coming. Of course, Ned doesn’t pull any punches. “She’s too good for you.”

He can’t quite stop the “I know” from coming out of his mouth and Ned looks almost surprised at his automatic response.

“You…know?”

“I do.” Stannis nods, thinking that perhaps Ned just needs to hear it from him before he will let Stannis leave and allow him the chance to spend some more time with Sansa before she grows tired of him. “I know I am not the man you envisaged your daughter bringing home…but I am also under no illusions that the relationship between Sansa and I will last.” For a moment Ned looks enraged, clearly thinking that Stannis is using Sansa for sex or something equally base, but Stannis continues if only to save himself the embarrassment of a bloody nose. “I am not what many consider a ‘catch’ and I expect Sansa will grow bored of me in time. I am not a romantic man and Davos tells me I am blunt to the point of pain sometimes; Sansa will come to realise this and seek someone younger, more handsome who will live up to both her expectations and yours. There is very little I can say to make you understand how much I care for your daughter, the intelligent, beautiful, thoughtful young woman that she is, but I should like to make the most of the time that I have left with her before she comes to her senses. I would prefer to not have to concern myself with ignoring the glares and scowls of the father of the woman I love.”

Ned seems frozen in shock and Stannis realises he’s given far more away than he should have. He decides to make his retreat when Ned clasps a hand around his arm.

“You love her?” he says disbelieving.

“I do.” It would be foolish to deny it now. “Though Renly and Robert would have everyone believe such a thing impossible.”

All of a sudden it’s like Ned is trying to help him. “Surely Sansa has not given you any signs that she wishes to leave, and if she has, aren’t you going to fight for her?” Warning him off Sansa is overtaken by a seeming overwhelming tide of ‘pity’ and there is nothing that annoys him more.

Stannis shrugs off Ned’s hand and gives him a grimace that is part self-pitying smirk. Only he is allowed to pity himself. “I think we all know there is little point in trying to change Sansa’s mind. It was her choice to see me and it will be her choice to leave me. I would not try to persuade her to stay if she was unhappy.” Sansa is so far out of his league, and he knew this to begin with. It has always been clear to him that she would leave if someone better came along. Someone who would smile and be romantic and know just what to say when she came down the stairs in a dress before going out with him or her friends. Someone who wouldn’t be mistaken for her father or uncle. Someone who she would be proud to be seen with if they decided to go out to one of the high society dinners they were invited to. Sansa was twenty five and he was thirty eight, the gap between their ages commented on enough to become annoying.

*****

As Stannis walks away, Ned wonders whether Sansa actually does deserve better.

*****

Oblivious to the two men, and now having hurried upstairs to her childhood room to sit on the stool in front of her dressing table, Sansa seethes silently thinking over the conversation between her father and Stannis.

She hadn’t truly intended to listen, having gone inside for a drink only to hear her father’s voice threatening someone so of course it was Stannis. Sansa had first thought it was one of those ‘roll your eyes’ moments. It was amusing that they thought Sansa still needed protecting, and laughable that Stannis would ever hurt her intentionally - he was not so cruel. However, her smile dropped and she grew angry as she listened to Stannis’ thoughts on himself. She managed to duck away just before they left the room.

He did not offer her flowers or chocolates which she wasn’t all that bothered about. He didn’t think he was romantic but he showed it in other ways, fixing her a cup of coffee in the morning, opening doors for her, pulling out her chair and taking her to dinner. He sat through all sorts of films that he didn’t particularly enjoy and made sure to text her before she went to bed, when she woke in the morning and always asked for her to let him know when she got home safe from being out with friends. That was romantic because it showed he cared. The smiling, which did not come as easy to him as she would have liked, was something Sansa thought she could work with, that there was time.

Sansa sniffed, uncaring of the tears that seemed to track steadily down her cheeks. She thought there might have been time to show him how much she cared for him if he did not have it in his head that she would leave him as soon as someone better came along! He clearly thought so little of himself that Sansa would leave him without a thought hurt.

“I hope you’re not having sex in here—“ Arya said loudly as she barged through the door, one hand covering her eyes and lips pressed into a thin line. Sansa spent a good twenty minutes trying to calm down and stop her tears that her absence had been noted and apparently even Arya had become concerned.

Sansa gave a teary laugh and Arya’s grimace at the thought turned into an outright scowl as she set her eyes on her older sister.

“Alright. Who made you cry? Was it Stannis — does he need to be reminded not to mess with my sister? I thought Dad had already given him the talk—“

Sansa’s face crumpled. “He did.”

Arya looked horrified. “And?…oh gods, he hasn’t decided that you’re too much trouble and left you, has he?”

“No!” Sansa moped, though perhaps that was possible too, “he thinks I’m going to leave him!”

“What?” Arya was confused. “You aren’t are you? Because I’m being honest here, Stannis is perhaps one of the better boyfriends you’ve had. Ok the best. I won’t bother lying.”

Sansa wiped the tears away from her face perhaps a bit more forcefully than she meant to. She’d need to clean herself up before she could reappear downstairs or else they’d all know she’d been crying. It would be difficult to return to the cheerful mood now she’d found out what Stannis really thought about their relationship. She’d thought they were rather good together…

“I’m not going to leave him. I heard him talking with dad and I just…he thinks that I’ll only stay with him for a little while until I get bored or find someone else - he thinks so little of himself and apparently how much I care for him—he even said he loved me.” The words get caught in her throat. He’d never said it to her before, or even hinted really.

Arya looks at Sansa, a little uncomfortably at how the subject has turned. She’s all for beating the shit out of someone but when it comes to their feelings it’s a different matter altogether. “Do you…do you er, love him?” Arya coughs awkwardly.

The question makes Sansa pause though perhaps she’s known the answer for a while already. Stannis’ doubts about her commitment are enough to make her cry, and she realises she’s never felt quite so strongly about anyone else, Joffrey or Sandor or Willas’ comments had never made her feel like this. Though should four months really be enough to love someone? Apparently it was. “I do.” Sansa replied quietly, looking at her younger sister now who now seems impatient more than anything. “What?”

“Then you’re just being stupid.” Arya replies, “If you love him like you say you do and he feels the same, you need to get out there and change his mind. Though perhaps you should go home before you do it because I don’t want to hear anything that comes after professions of love.” her face twisted in disgust but Sansa couldn’t be bothered to care. She jumped up from her seat in front of her dressing table and pulled Arya into a tight hug that made her gasp and mutter about blind sisters and grumpy old men.

“Stannis isn’t old.” Sansa grinned as she pulled back, then seeing her sister roll her eyes, put a rather cheeky smirk on her face and breathed “believe me.”

Sansa laughed at the retching noises Arya made all the way to the bathroom.

 

**Author's Note:**

> From all the self-pity stannis has in fics I just had to write a little thing! So many good fics being written/updated at the moment! My own are temporarily on hold until I finish some more work, I am writing I promise! 
> 
> Consider this finished until inspiration strikes for Sansa to tell/show stannis how much she loves him.


End file.
